


Circular Translation

by crazygirlne



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gallifreyan, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2015-11-10
Packaged: 2018-04-30 23:45:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5184254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazygirlne/pseuds/crazygirlne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her time as Bad Wolf leaves Rose Tyler able to understand the little circles the Doctor sometimes draws on her skin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Circular Translation

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Time Petals Prompts Ficlet Friday. Prompt this week: An unexpected lesson in Gallifreyan.

It started shortly after Bad Wolf, while Rose was still adjusting to her new Doctor. He started rubbing his thumb in small circles across the top of hers while they held hands, and she’d hear him say something, even if she could see he wasn’t talking.

_Run!_

She thought she was imagining it, at first, when she heard his apology after New Earth.

She didn’t hear anything for a while after they met Sarah Jane, when he was keeping his hands to himself, and she was doing much the same.

After the Cybermen, though, after losing her sort-of-mother and leaving Mickey behind, the Doctor seemed to try to find more excuses to touch her again, to hold her hand, no matter what planet they were on, especially after he realized she didn’t seem to mind it, when she smiled up at him after a circular, _okay?_

It wasn’t until after she’d lost her face that she realized the Doctor didn’t know that she could hear what he was saying or drawing. They’d joined the celebration, and he seemed reluctant to let go of her, doing so only as often as necessary. She looked up from her drink, catching him watching her for what had to be at least the tenth time that night.

 _Beautiful_ , she felt against her hand, and she blushed.

“Thanks,” she said, grinning up at him.

“For what?”

She blinked back at him. “For um, for saving me.”

 _Saved me first_. “Ah, all in a day’s work.” He beamed at her, and she felt her smile widen. She filed away her questions for another day.

Another day came after they’d survived an impossible planet, when the Doctor pulled her into his embrace before they separated for the night and drew the same circles on an exposed shoulder blade.

_Need you. Stay._

“Okay,” she answered, not really needing to consider it.

“‘Okay’ what?” The Doctor pulled back, confused, but didn’t break contact, his hands still resting on her shoulders, right thumb still tracing circles. _Want to kiss you._

“Yes.” She swallowed. “That. You’ve been doing that thing with your hands for ages, and it’s driving me mad.”

His movement stilled. She knew she wasn’t explaining things well after a day that had been challenging even for them, but the Doctor did like to insist he was brilliant.

“You mean this?” He moved his thumb again, more deliberately this time. _Hello._

“I probably shouldn’t hear that, yeah?”

It was the Doctor’s turn to swallow. “How long have you been able to?”

“Since you’ve been this version of you. What’s happening, exactly?”

“Well…” He dropped his hands, shoving one into his pocket and running the other through his hair. “Keep in mind I’m only guessing, but I am very good at guessing. I think…” He paused, his tongue touching his top teeth, then finished the rest of this sentence in a rush of breath, “that Bad Wolf made it so that you were more receptive to my touch telepathy and then the TARDIS helped you to understand circular Gallifreyan."

“So you mean the circles you’ve been drawing--”

“Are Gallifreyan. Yes. She isn’t supposed to translate that, not really. I don’t suppose you’ve been able to read it anywhere else on the ship?”

He’d pointed it out to her once or twice, so Rose was able to shake her head. “Just when you draw on my skin.”

“That’s...” He cleared his throat. “Right. So then a minute ago, you were agreeing to…?”

“I was saying I’d stay with you tonight.” Rose looked down at her slippers, then back up at the Doctor, who was still watching her. “I mean, if you want.”

“I’d like that.” He stayed where he was in the hall, not making any move toward his door, giving Rose the courage to continue.

“What you told me after, too, about the kissing? I’d be fine with that, too.”

He rubbed his neck, his voice breaking when he spoke. “Yeah?”

“Yes,” she said firmly, an echo of their earlier conversation. It seemed to break through the last of his restraint, and he stepped forward, closing the gap between them, slipping one hand behind her neck and placing the other at her waist.

The kiss went on for minutes but was somehow too short, ending with the Doctor’s hand having somehow found its way just underneath the bottom of Rose’s thin pajama top, his thumb once more tracing circles of its own free will.

“Doctor?” she breathed against his lips. “I love you, too.”

 


End file.
